The Goals of Reston Black Focus
The published documents listed on this page are those that have been made public by Reston Black Focus in order to clearly outline their purpose, justification for existing, and the areas of concentration which the organization wishes to invest its resources. The What? Why? And How? Document outlines Reston Black Focus as an organization with the desired to serve on the basic structure for civic, educational, and Black cultural interests in Reston. It details very clearly that in American society the black Citizen is forced to be aware that he is different form the norm. So, the organization of Reston Black Focus is centered on the idea of protecting Black Cultural traditions and interests in the community. In a similar fashion to other minority groups in America at that time, like Jews, Italians, or any other ethnic group. This particular document is very clear about stating that the organization is not in any way supposed to be a opposition to any other group of people.
The Reston Black Focus goals are as clearly stated in this document as in the previous one. It is the concern of Reston Black Focus that the so called “New Towns” in America, which the organization of Reston Black focus hope can be a place for all kinds of people. A place were individuals regardless of race can lose their fear of the unknown other. The newness of Reston at the time made it a community which could be shaped into a place free of older racial prejudices against the African American community. Given the desegregation aspect of a lot of places in the United States in the late 60’s it serves to reason that Reston black Focus wishes to avoid old patterns of race and class division in Reston. The goals of Reston Black Focsu were response to a state that had recently gone through alot of interior changes;“The NAACP lawyers continued to press for an end to segregation laws, achieving notable victories in Johnson v. Virginia (1963), which ended courtroom segregation; Loving v. Virginia (1967), which overturned nearly three centuries of Virginia laws against racial intermarriage; and Green v. County School Board of New Kent County (1968), which ended “freedon of choice” plans that had perpetuated school segregation”1The vast changes to racial dynamics in the state was the catalyst that led to the creation of Reston Black Focus. With African Americans now making part of integrated communities there was a need for an organization to safeguard the cultural, civic, and educational interest of the Black minority in Reston Virginia.
The development of the New Town meant that with the new housing and changing racial norms, most African Americans would be able to find employment and residence in these places. Reston was one such example where a small African American population lived integrated into the white community. This had not been the norm for most urban places since “post-1945 developments took place against a background of the decline of factory-dominated cities. What was unusual in the new circumstances was not the presence of discrimination— Jews and Catholics as well as blacks had been excluded from certain neighborhoods for generations” [2]. The discriminative exclusion of groups deemed as racial or religious minorities from certain urban areas had been the norm up until the late 60s and therefore Reston Black Focus faced the task of easing the integration of African Americans into a community, which they have only recently been allowed to inhabit. The exclusion of Blacks forms white urban areas in Virginia had been quite evident as; “any other urban or suburban firm, publicly and officially refused to sell to blacks for two decades after the war. Nor did resellers deal with minorities” [3]. The discrimination when it came to housing would be one of the reasons why Reston Black Focus would also be heavily involved in homeowner’s association within their area. It was the hope of Reston Black Focus to avoid the very recent norms of excluding Blacks from urban center and from the jobs and education that were available in such areas. The fact that Reston was growing New Town mean that it would perhaps be easier for African Americans to integrate into a new growing urban community that’s just starting to develop as a community, rather than integrating into an older traditionally white urban area.
[1] Heinemann, Old Dominion, New Commonwealth a History of Virginia. 355
[2] Stein, Toward New Towns for America. 242
[3] Stein, Toward New Towns for America. 242